A full minute passed before I grasped the meaning of that soft answer, and then it was too late. He had gone about his business without waiting to see whether my wrath had been turned away. I had been joy-riding!
The excitement in Britton's usually imperturbable countenance as he came running up to me from the telephone closet prepared me in a way for the startling news that was to come.
"Has anything serious happened?" I cried, my heart sinking a little lower.
"I had Mr. Poopendyke himself on the wire, sir. What do you think, sir?"
A premonition! "She—she has arrived?" I demanded dully.
He nodded. "She 'as, sir. Mrs.—your mother, sir, is in your midst." The proximity of the inquisitive manager explains this extraordinary remark on the part of my valet. We both glared at the manager and he had the delicacy to move away. "She arrived by a special train at twelve lawst night, sir."
I was speechless. The brilliant sunshine seemed to be turning into sombre night before my eyes; everything was going black.
"She's asleep, he says, and doesn't want to be disturbed till noon, so he says he can't say anything more just now over the telephone because he's afraid of waking 'er." (Britton drops them when excited.)
"He doesn't have to shout so loud that he can be heard on the top floor," said I, still a trifle dazed.
"She 'appens to be sleeping in your bed, sir, he says."